Physiology of Weights

[guest@endurance.net]

Angie McGhee Rides2far@juno.com
 >>> I'm a FW. If my husband conditioned my horse (he
would be a HW) and then I rode the horse in competitions, would the horse
perform better because he was carrying less weight than he was used to
carrying?

A very interesting study was done in Australia. If I remember the details
right, they had a heavyweight & a featherweight condition 2 horses.  The
HW's horse's pulse was higher at first, but over the course of weeks they
pretty much evened out.  Then they gave the horses several weeks off and
then traded. At first there was a major difference, but through training
they both evened out again.  The main thing that they concluded from it
was that the biggest advantage was to condition a horse with a
heavyweight, then put a featherweight on for competition.  I don't think
people liked those findings much so they sort of ignored them, but I'm
surprised now that there's starting to be $$ in the sport that some heavy
people who ride well aren't in demand to condition some of these top
horses.

I weighed in at 164 with my tack at Vermont, and have lost 10 lbs since
then :-)) That's 124 without tack. I would *love* to ride a heavyweight's
horse in a competition (maybe on an even lighter saddle!) and see if he
had a boost in power.

P.S.  For the first time I did the math on the 20% of my horse's
bodyweight.  Kaboot weighed 847 at Vermont.  So...his limit would be 180
lbs. So for him that would be the same as a 1,050 lb horse carrying 210!
Interesting. He's carried 170 in plenty of races. I never realized I had
him that close to his capacity.

Angie